SUBLIME

After the fifth time Stacie promised herself she wouldn't call Jim again, she dialled his

number and her heart skipped a trifle when his image appeared on the screen. She knew she had no business calling him after he had blatantly told her she was worthless…

 What happened to all the sweet words, the attention, the petting, and the "I am crazy about you"? 18 months into the relationship and she had never even kissed him, until that movie night when the watched a romantic flick in a candle lit room. It was all so beautiful, just like in the movies…

 "Hello" Jim answered irritably on the other side "Stacie, what is it?" "Baby" Stacie returned from her reverie "baby, how are you doing?"

 "Listen Stacie" Jim growled "I'm at work, if you have nothing important to do, I do…"

 "Baby what happened to us?" Stacie resumed her sobbing routine, but the line went dead. She tossed the soiled tissue on the pile that was fast rising to the height of the couch. She wasn't naïve, matter of fact this was her third relationship and every one of them had ended after she gave up the "cookie". 

She had thought what she had with Jim was different because he never made any demands, never threatened and didn't even act like he was interested in "Cookies" before marriage. Truth be told, of all the men that she had dated, Jim was the sweetest… well, turns out the sweetest sometimes have fangs.

 After their first time, Jim started acting cold and she felt she had done something wrong. So, she tried to get his warmth and sweetness back by giving up more cookies, but nothing changed. It was raining ice by the fourth time… Jim stopped calling, stopped texting and didn't even bother replying her messages… 

 What had she done wrong? She was a good Christian girl, beautiful (sexy even), had great character, worked hard and earned good… maybe she got too emotional… but was that it? Isn't a woman allowed to be emotional? She pondered on these until exhaustion drove her into the warmth of sleep. 

 Later that day, she came across a psychology journal, it featured results of a research on subliminal messages that are inculcated in advertisements, to get consumers hooked on products. 

Then it hit her, even though Jim had never mentioned sex or implied it, the movies they saw at the cinemas, the songs he made her listen to, the novels he bought her, and the sort of underwear he bought her all suggested sex implicitly.

 "Wow…" Was all she could say… Jim worked as an advertising executive in one of the top ad agencies in Lagos. The whole time, he was all about the cookies even though his words were all about their future… 

Then the popular proverbs 4:23 verse hit her "guard you heart with all vigilance and above all you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life" "How many things do we know, yet don't put to practice?" She asked out loud… 

While Jim featured a "Christian" façade, he was subliminally suggesting "Cookie take-outs"… She should have known better than receive media content and gifts that were not edifying from Jim… she should have paid greater attention to Paul's warning in Romans 12:2 that we ought not to conform to the standards but rather to renew our thoughts with God's word. 

 She exhaled in realization of the fact that she had been duped… through subliminal suggestions and she got down on her knees… It was time to hit the refresh button… She had messed up, but she wasn't going to stay messed up… 

She knew Christ would be waiting with open arms… and she resolved there and then that she was going to filter everything that she read, listened to, and watched…